Ballpark History: GameDay Lineup Handouts

During our discussion of Padres Seminal Moments, David from Vocal Minority mentioned Bud Smith’s no-hitter because he’d seen it in person. Turns out, he, I, and Son of a Duck were all at Q that night for the footnote to history. Since that post, my few memories of that afternoon have been periodically buzzing around in my head.

Bud Smith was maybe the most unlikely guy ever to throw a no-hitter, and that achievement marked the zenith of his career. He was out of the Majors by the end of the 2002 season and out of baseball by 2007. That said, this post isn’t about him.

The 2001 season was one of four I held Padres Season Tickets. FWIW, they were 154-170 at home in those 4 disconnected seasons. One watches a lot of mediocre baseball as a Padres fan. Because I am a tremendous packrat I still have all the scorecards I kept during those seasons, and this weekend I decided to root through the pile and dig the Bud Smith one up. The scorecard itself is interesting to me, as a reminder of a game long since complete, and a lot of plays I don’t remember. I doubt, however, you want to hear about how the Padres didn’t get a base runner past second that afternoon, or that Damian Jackson struck out twice.

You might be interested in this, still neatly tucked away in the card:

That sheet of paper made me smile. From the 2001 home logo to the Yahoo! sports sponsorship, that’s a walk down memory lane. I’d forgotten how much information the Padres media staff used to pack into those one-page sheets. Taking a little closer look, the Padres roster at the start of play on 3 Sept looked like this:

There’s a bunch of guys I – and I suspect, most of you – have not thought about in a long while. Cesar Crespo played second base in the ninth inning. Crespo left the Padres after the 2002 season, then resurfaced with Boston in 2004, his last year in the majors. Ben Davis had the best year of his Padres career in 2001, then went to Seattle in the trade that netted Brett Tomko (among others). Of course, Ben Davis’ best year as a Padre came with an OPS+ 0f 88; not exactly what you want from the #2 overall pick in the draft (Is that Geoff grinding his teeth?). Owner of one of the all-time great baseball names, 2001 was Wascar Serrano’s only year in the Majors. Most of the rest of the players listed would be gone by the end of the 2002 season.

Ignoring the Cardinals roster and continuing on, we get a snapshot of the upcoming events at the ballpark.

Anyone remember Super 5 Buck Mondays? Five bucks each for a game ticket and parking, and 5 hot dogs for about $30 bucks? Why couldn’t we resurrect this promotion too – the team already offers $5 park in the park tickets. Make a couple of upper deck sections $5 on a Monday night (or Wednesday, perhaps) and have at it.

As for the other events – honoring a minor league affiliate heading into the playoffs is cool, but requires a minor league affiliate to be heading into the playoffs. You know Girls Night Out Happy Hour would still draw a crowd – maybe the club could have Chill Venorfia stop by – but with two Beerfests and a Wine Festival on the 2013 schedule, the Padres are doing their part to promote pre-game festivity. And, speaking personally, making those events co-ed is much better.

Which brings us to the bottom of the sheet.

Hey check that out – there’s no expiration date on the coupon. Sure, the store at Gate B went out of business in 2003 and the Encinitas store moved to Escondido, but the Plaza Rio Tijuana establishment is still there. Just endure a possible 2-hour wait at the border and you may be able to get the collector pin of your dreams for half off.* Besides, when was the last time the Padres gave away a discount coupon, at the team store, via an in-game publication? 100% of the Blueprints I reviewed for this post had no discount coupons.**

If you were one of the 36,535 at the Q that night, you probably didn’t enjoy the result of this game. But I hope you – and everyone else – enjoyed this post.

*Padres Public does not guarantee this coupon will still work, and will not reimburse you for the difference in price if it fails.

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VM David

That game would be more of a fond memory, if I had just remembered the collectable pin coupon.

I just remember being there and yelling out, “What the Hell? It’s BUD SMITH! Bud FREAKIN’ Smith!”

VM David

I remember our group harassing Dave Veres for most of that game (we were sitting next to the St Louis bullpen), because the week prior he gave up a bomb to Ryan Klesko and promptly accused him of using a loaded bat. So, at least there was that.